1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to portable devices for facilitating the rapid ignition of charcoal and more particularly to collapsible devices for use with home barbecues.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Although charcoal briquets and chunks of charcoal are widely used in home barbecues and the like, there are certain disadvantages traditionally attendant to their use. It is difficult to obtain even ignition of all the briquets and it usually takes a long time to achieve an even burning set of coals. Many attempts have been made to overcome these disadvantages with varying amounts of success.
Liquid inflammable fluids have been developed for pouring on the briquets. These fluids are messy, potentially dangerous, usually possess an unpleasant odor and are becoming relatively expensive.
Electric heating elements are inefficient and unwieldy and require a handy source of electrical power.
Chimney type holders have been developed. These are usually cylindrical in shape and are placed vertically on the fire bed. The charcoal is stacked inside the cylinder and ignited. Air is drawn in through apertures at or near the botton. The lower pieces of charcoal are ignited and by convection the rising hot gases cause the upper pieces of charcoal to ignite. These devices, although useful, still possess disadvantages. The oxygen in the incoming air is rapidly depleted leaving insufficient oxygen to support efficient combustion of the upper pieces of charcoal. The cylinder walls are usually formed from sheet metal which conducts the heat away from the adjacent pieces of charcoal. Due to the vertical stacking, the radiant heating from the ignited lower pieces of charcoal is only utilized in a vertical direction, wasting a lot of the heat. Once the charcoal is ignited, the holder must be removed. It is usually very hot and requires tools to handle. It must be placed where it will not burn anything, including inquisitive children.
Devices such as U.S. Pat. No. 2,939,773 granted to Russel S. Rymer June 7, 1960 partially solve the problem of feeding oxygen to the upper pieces of charcoal by providing holes in the vertical cylinder walls, but the rest of the above-mentioned problems remain.
Devices such as U.S. Pat. No. 3,957,455 granted to Roger S. Clark May 18, 1976 solve the problem of the transmission through the cylinder walls by forming the cylinder from material with low thermal conductivity. However, the oxygen starvation problem remains.
The present invention solves all the above-mentioned problems as well as being capable of storage in a small volume, and is inexpensive to fabricate.